15 Consideration of evidence-based findings

Evidence-based approaches also have a place in the field of
physical activity. When introducing exercise programmes,
municipalities should consider evidence-based approaches
using motor skills tests to enable them to manage measures
more effectively.

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has been experiencing increased
propagation in clinical practice for some 90 years. EBM combines
specific clinical experience with knowledge available from research.
Parallel to this, evidence-based promotion of physical activity combines
practical experience of municipalities and sports institutions
with findings from medicine and human movement science.

Evidence in the context of promotion of physical activity
There is increasing evidence that overweight and arteriosclerosis
have their beginnings in early childhood and that exercise can be a
remedy to this.7 Long-term studies have also shown that physical
inactivity in childhood is associated with inactivity and low fitness
of the cardiovascular system in adults.

Evidence-based findings justify extensive intervention in the area of
promoting physical activity as part of health promotion in municipalities.
Children with motor problems should be specifically addressed
and encouraged so that they do not start adult life with a
cluster of risk factors.

The consideration of evidence-based findings serves not only in justifying
interventions but also in supporting the implementation of
measures and in drawing up the contents of activity programmes.

Extensive municipal programmes for promoting physical activity in
various countries have been evaluated and the practical findings of
many years integrated in further projects (e.g. SPARK project in USA,
in Canada and Lekker Fit! in the Netherlands).

Correlations between motor skills and cognition
Another field of evidence-based practice that is increasingly important
is the proof of positive effects of exercise and mental development.
Since around 1997 many studies carried out on primaryschool
children have substantiated this positive correlation.
Research in the elementary sector started later but the findings are
in the same vein.

These extensive evidence-based findings should in future be integrated
in the programmes and taken into consideration by the
municipalities.

Evidence-based promotion of physical activity is a relatively new
sphere. In future scientists, practicians from the field of education
and parents should work closely together. This applies for both the
pre-school and primary school sector. The measures should be evaluated
and documented to ensure the transfer of knowledge and
further development. Both setting approaches and community-oriented
approaches should be taken into consideration so that difficult
to reach target groups can also be addressed.